Glimmer of hope for Aussie renters as figures indicate rental growth peaked in 2024 – but crisis still remains

Median rents across the nation rose by 6.9 per cent over the last year – setting a new median price of $620 and offering a glimmer of hope for renters struggling with soaring prices. PropTrack’s latest figures reveal the rental crisis is likely to continue, especially for those living in regional areas, as prices continue to rise in 2025. “Despite some easing of rental pressures, the market remains far tighter than pre-pandemic levels, and availability is still strained. Rents are expected to keep rising in 2025, though at a more moderate pace,” REA Group executive manager economics Angus Moore said. “Slowing national rental price growth was largely driven by tempering capital city markets over the past year; meanwhile regional rent growth outpaced capital cities and availability tightened further.” However, those same figures also offered a glimmer of hope for struggling renters, as the 6.9 per cent growth is compared with nearly 20 per cent annual growth on rents in 2023. “While rent prices recorded annual growth of 6.9 per cent in December 2024, outstripping that of inflation or wage growth, we did see the pace of rental price growth slow to less than half of that of 2023, marking the slowest annual increase since late 2021,” he said. In a positive sign for renters, the number of newly advertised rental properties was 4.1 per cent higher than a year ago and there are 9.5 per cent more choices for renters. The increases in rental prices nationally continue to outpace both headline inflation, which came in at 2.4 per cent in the 12-months until December 31 and wage growth of 1.8 per cent for the six months until May 2024. As pressures remain for renters, PropTrack shows there is a glimmer of hope for tenants as soaring prices begin to ease. PropTrack says demand for rental properties eased slightly over the year, as the median days on market increased from 19 days in December 2023 to 20 days in December 2024. Much of the slowdown in advertised rents comes from Australia’s two largest cities with both Sydney and Melbourne showing no changes in rents over the last two quarters. Sydney rental prices remained at $730 per week while Melbourne average is $570. As Sydney and Melbourne fall, Perth at 8.3 per cent and Adelaide with a 7.4 per cent pick up had the greatest weekly retinal prices to the year of January. Prices in Adelaide and Perth now exceed Melbourne with median prices at $650 and $580 respectively. Rent growth in regional areas has overtaken that in capital cities, and rental availability has worsened in the past 12 months regionally. “Slowing national rental price growth was largely driven by tempering capital city markets over the past year; meanwhile regional rent growth outpaced capital cities and availability tightened further,” Mr Moore concludes.